November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 45th birthday. He wrote a humorous note from Hartford to the editors of Childhood’s Appeal.

Why should I want a “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” to prosper, when I have a baby downstairs that kept me awake several hours last night with no pretext for it but a desire to make trouble? This occurs every night, & it embitters me; because I see now how needless it was to put in the other burglar alarm, a costly & complicated contrivance, which cannot be depended upon, because it’s always getting out of order & won’t “go,” whereas, although the baby is always getting out of order too, it can nevertheless be depended on, for the reason that the more it gets out of order, the more it does go [MTLE 5: 213].

Sam also wrote to Franklin Whitmore, who evidently had remembered Sam’s birthday.

“…from this day forth let both of us cease from scoffing at the old; for we be of that lot ourselves, now” [MTLE 5: 214].

Western Union Telegraph Co. billed $10.71 for November telegrams: Nov. 2, 6 to Boston; received from San Francisco Nov. 2; to Elmira Nov. 3; Nov. 19, 24 to New York [MTP].